Review: The Kings Arms, Bury St Edmunds

Setting

The Kings Arms is situated just a few minutes walk away from the town centre of Bury St Edmunds and only a short walk from Abbey Gardens. The building dates back to the 18th century and is the ideal place to stop for lunch after a busy morning shopping.

We had a warm welcome as we entered the pub, and were made to feel at home despite the busy atmosphere.

Interior

There was a football match on while we dined, making the atmosphere in the pub fantastic. The game created a focal point for everybody and everyone was enjoying themselves.

The staff were very accommodating and went out of their way to find us somewhere to sit. They also maintained a professional service throughout our visit.

The pub is not the biggest inside, but there is still plenty of room to sit and have a meal comfortably, even on a busy Saturday afternoon.

The interior is quite modern, with plenty of tables and chairs where you can sit comfortably and eat.

The building is well maintained and also has a large garden area with TV screens. This would be a great spot to eat on a summer’s day, with plenty of tables and space to accommodate large parties.

Food

The menu at the Kings Arms was extensive, with plenty of starters, sharing platters, main courses, light bites and desserts available. There was lots to choose from and options for most dietary requirements. Diners here really are spoilt for choice.

The highlights of the starters included marinated olives in chilli and garlic, crispy torpedo prawns, soup of the day and pub favourite cheesy garlic ciabatta. We also noticed the sharing starters, which included a nachos dish, a mediterranean platter, and a giant sharer, which consisted of southern fried chicken goujons, hash brown bites, garlic bread, onion rings, fries and tortilla chips with various dips and salad garnish.

It was clear to us that the menu could satisfy the smallest appetites to the biggest.

The main menu consists of some popular dishes including scampi and chips, British beef and ale pie, BBQ ribs and hunter’s chicken. There are also some ‘700 calories or less’ options such as the butternut squash and sage cannelloni, the chicken and bacon salad and the slow roast tomato rocket and cheddar frittata.

There are some fantastic grill options too such as gammon and eggs, chicken fajitas and rump steak. If you enjoy a burger then the choice here is as extensive as any part of the menu. They also offer some alternative burger choices if you want to try something different, such as the trio of burger sliders, which consist of mini beef, lamb and pork chorizo burgers topped with mayonnaise, gherkins and salad garnish.

The menu even includes hot dogs, with a selection of three different varieties!

All the dishes have various options such as ‘add a drink for £1’, ‘add fries for £1.99’ and ‘add cheese for 50p’ These options are great and helped us to customise our meals to exactly our preference.

Doubling up your burger for £1.50 extra is great value and an easy way to ensure that you are not still hungry after your meal.

We both ordered the cheesy garlic bread to start, which was fantastically cheesy with a generously sized portion each. The main meal was the BBQ ribs for me - the swaying factor in the decision was the fact that the ribs were ‘award winning’. These tasted as good as they were described. The other main was mac and cheese with added bacon for an extra 50p. This was presented well and tasted great.

The dessert offerings were not quite as extensive as the mains, but they were tempting. If we had not have felt so full and satisfied from our mains we would have both been tempted by the jam roly poly, or even the classic chocolate fudge cake. The desserts were good value ranging from £2.79 for pancakes and ice cream to £3.49 for the caramelised pear and ginger pudding.

Drink

The drinks menu is equally full of variety and has plenty of options to satisfy all requirements. There were plenty of alcoholic drinks available - at the time there were offers available on their website of two free drinks when two main meals are purchased, which is a great offer that could potentially take a big chunk from the bill as alcoholic drinks are included.

The options for tea and coffee were great, with a teapot for two for £1.89. If you are looking for alcoholic deals then you can buy six shots for £5 and two Jager bombs for £5. I would expect that on a Friday and Saturday night these would be popular options.

Cost

Overall the price of the food was very reasonable. The pub offers daily deals on certain meals, making some dishes very good value for money, and other deals run frequently. We both felt the meal we had was exceptionally good value.

Summary

I would say that The Kings Arms offers a good selection of quality food for reasonable prices and has a good selection of drinks to accompany your meal. The staff were very attentive and went out of their way to help us and ensure that we were satisfied.

Despite there being a football match on, the ambience of the pub was comfortable and we were made to feel very welcome.

Next time I visit the town I would happily return for a good meal.